You are here

Biological Sciences

OSU scientists make BIG contributions to cancer research

Project lead: The Ohio State University Department of Biomedical InformaticsResearch title: High performance algorithms for scientific applicationsFunding source: National Cancer Institute

As the Knowledge Center for caGrid, researchers at The Ohio State University’s Comprehensive Cancer Center are using their expertise to develop software infrastructure and hardware resources that may speed cancer research discoveries. The Knowledge Centers are part of the National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid (caBIG) program, an information network that provides cancer researchers, physicians and other participants with the ability to share basic-science, clinical-trials, imaging and other research data and analyses. The caGrid Knowledge Center provides expertise and serves as a resource on the network’s infrastructure for the caBIG community, including assistance with community projects to ensure effective use of caGrid.

In close coordination with the caBIG leadership, OSU’s Department of Biomedical Informatics team works as the lead developer for the caGrid infrastructure. In addition to providing development assistance, BMI provides technical oversight and guidance for caGrid architecture and implementation. The team has developed several core components of caGrid, including the GAARDS security infrastructure, the Introduce toolkit for caGrid service development and deployment, the caGrid data services infrastructure and the metadata management infrastructure.

OSC supports this effort by providing the caGrid infrastructure and key bioinformatics software on its IBM Cluster 1350, as well as dedicating significant supercomputer cycle allotments to bioscience users around Ohio and the nation. The availability of this resource at OSC, along with key bioinformatics applications/tools and the caGrid system, enables researchers to carry out analyses and information integration at scales that were previously impossible.